How to Win More Work as a Tradesperson from Job Leads
Working from jobs leads offers many advantages to a tradesperson over traditional advertising and marketing methods, but you are still in competition with other tradespeople to get the job – so how do you ensure you get the most out of job leads?
Stand out from the Crowd
Well, the first thing you need to do is stand out from the crowd and give the customer a reason to pick you. Be professional at all times and provide accurate and easy to follow quotes for the work to be done. If applicable, direct customers to your website or social media pages to see examples of previous work and to read testimonials to build trust and confidence.
Be Reliable & Keep Promises
If you agreed to provide a written quote by a certain date then make sure you follow up on that. Always keep in touch with the customer and never make them chase you up to find out what is happening! A professional quote delivered on time will impress the customer, especially if your quote arrives first and looks more professional than your competition. Remember, you are effectively in a race to impress your lead so ensure you make the best impression, beating your competition to the finish line.
Quote Professionally
Getting a quote to your lead quickly is easy if you use a pre-designed quote template available online, make sure you clearly discuss the exact services that you offer with the customer ahead of time. Then all you have to do is just enter the specific details into your quote template or software, rather than writing them all out from scratch every time. So impressing your potential customers does not always mean more work for you, just better planning and efficient use of your time. For example, if you use a laptop or tablet on your initial site visit, you can prepare most of the quote whilst you're on site, then just print it out when you get back to the office. Alternatively, for customers that prefer to use email, you could email them the quote immediately and discuss it with them before you leave! Then all you have to do is contact them in 2 or 3 days to make sure they got the quote and see if they have any questions about it. Working smarter with quotes can save you lots of time and win you more leads.
Be Easy to Contact & Follow up the Lead
Don’t forget to make it easy for the customer to get in touch with you, check with them for their preferred method of contact. Customers are finicky and if they can’t get hold of you to discuss the quote, they might just contact one of the other companies that have quoted and end up going with them! If you have heard nothing from them for a few days, don’t assume they have simply rejected your quote, follow them up after a few days but don't be too pushy and give them the time they need to compare quotations.
Build a Reputation Online
The way trades get work today is changing fast due to the online job listing and review sites. These websites effectively expand the reach of word-of-mouth recommendations by making reviews available for all to see. Customers are also increasingly finding tradesmen online, so this makes your online reputation especially important. Not only do you have to ensure reviews about your service are positive, but you also need to stand out from the crowd to win more leads. Building and retaining a good reputation is essential and there are some relatively simple things that you can do to develop this reputation. For example, always respond promptly and politely to all queries even if you can't do the job, be punctual and if you do happen to run a few minutes late, always ring the customer to explain and apologise. When gathering information from the customer to provide a quotation, clearly explain the work that you're going to do and provide an accurate quote. To keep a good working relationship with clients make sure you let them know in advance if you need to do work that's particularly noisy or dirty and try and arrange the best time to do it. Keep your workspace clean and tidy and put away tools when not in use.
Once you've finished the job, confirm with your customer that they're happy with everything including how you've cleaned up. Always end on a good note making sure that the customer knows they can contact you with any problems. Last but not least, if your customer is happy with the job, let them know it’s important for your business that they leave a good review of you online (and don’t forget to leave them some business cards to hand out to their friends and neighbours).
Having good reviews will greatly increase your chances of winning work from leads! So ensure you do your best to smooth over bad situations if your customer is unhappy. Always keep your cool and try to resolve things without getting frustrated and losing your temper. Even if you feel you have done a good job and the customer is nitpicking, sometimes it may be worth doing additional work or offering a small discount to smooth things over.
Insurance & Qualifications
Customers also feel more secure with tradesmen that have good insurance cover should anything go wrong to cover compensation claims for injury or damage. MyJobQuote.co.uk offers the facility to upload these documents to give customers peace of mind, make sure you take advantage of this and keep your public liability insurance documents handy to show customers as proof that you're insured before they hire you. Customers also like to know that you are qualified and have the relevant experience to do the job. So always highlight relevant qualifications, experience, and membership of any key certification schemes or trade associations.
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Last updated by MyJobQuote on 19th December 2017.